“The lunar eclipse is tonight,” Damon said, voice hard. “We are out of time.”
Dressed and heart pounding,I followed my mates out of the bedroom. With the storm, I couldn’t seeanything; not the moon supposedly turning dark, not the red glow that would mean it was shadowed by the world, and not the magic that supposedly came from it.
The new gear felt strange against my tender skin; it didn’t feel protective enough, somehow. Especially not with the collar still sitting snuggly around my throat, still a beacon of Dante’s control over me. There was nothing strong enough to keep me safe.
When we entered the living room, there were three tablets set up; one was linked to Sylvia, her hair a mess, soot darkening her cheeks. In the background behind her face, fire raged beyond the flickering wards protecting the academy.
“We don’t think the wards will last the night,” she was saying to Adrian, her voice tight with worry. “All the charm witches and mages have been out building new wards, but they aren’t strong enough against these flames. Our reports say Dante has left at least six elemental mages outside the academy, and they’re going to keep fanning the flames. Even if we survive and our wards hold, he’s going to boil these students alive.”
Her words crashed into me, the fear so clear it made bile rise in my throat. “We’re working on it,” Adrian replied carefully, glancing back at me. “We hope.”
Sylvia’s eyes darted to me, and for a moment, they filled with relief. But then she noticed the collar, stark against the dark material covering my body, and she went pale.
“You can’t stop him,” she murmured, shaking her head. “But please try. I can’t get them out without putting them in even more danger.”
“What does that mean?” I asked, stopping in front of her tablet, wrapping my arms around myself as Adrian stiffened. “Is there a way out?”
“One.”She nodded, lips pressed together.“But Dante knows about it. Damn it, he’s the one who found it during his stint at the academy. A secret tunnel into the mountain. But we tested it, and he’s already got hellhounds down there. We can’t escape.”
I tried to keep the bile down, but it burned my throat. “We’re going to stop him,” I said, even though the words felt almost like a lie.
“The Titan’s Channel is being hit with unprecedented storms as we speak,”another voice said, a female I vaguely recognised. She had familiar features, soft and yet hardened by the years, thick dark hair pulled back and freckles along her nose. “Two other routes into the Underworld are being hit with attacks. Storms, mostly, making the waters unsafe. The passage into the realm is open with the full moon, and there are ships trying to break in. We know it’s Dante’s army.”
“Thank you for the update, Elara,” Maeve said, arms crossed. “Disperse our agents. Get them out there.”
On the tablet screen, the female nodded once. “Already done.”
The third and final screen was murky, like whoever was meant to be on it was hiding in the dark. I heard heavy breathing from their end, the crunch of earth beneath their feet. Then the screen filled with the sky as it looked over the palace.
And the moon was in full, darkening light.
“One of our scouts on the ground,” Adrian murmured, his gaze locked on the third screen, too.
“Feral shifter attacks are happening in the city,”the creature on the other end whispered, turning the visual to their face. To my shock, it was Jay. I had no idea he was even in Avalon, let alone still trapped there. “We’ve taken out a handful, but there are still too many. Fae, too. A lot of Spring Court out there tearing the city apart. The forest around the palace is filled with vamps and mages.”
I covered my mouth with my hand as Damon stepped forward. “The Elysian demons are bringing Wrath demons into Avalon, but we won’t have enough.”
Because if we’d wanted to launch an attack on Dante, we would have needed to move the demons yesterday at the latest. Brought them through ourselves.
But whatever Nyx had done to us after I completed thebonds ruined that plan. Destroyed whatever timeline we had left.
“Shit,” Jay whispered, coming to a complete stop. “He’s?—”
The screen went dark for a moment, a sound coming through that might have been a scream. I stilled as the screen shifted, and a new face appeared.
Shining eyes, slicked back hair, terrifyingly cruel smile.
“Dante,” I said, voice sounding hollow in my own ears as I stepped towards the tablet. “If you hurt him?—”
He barked a laugh, the sound grating. “You don’t make the rules here, you little bitch,” he seethed, sounding unhinged—unstable. “You and your mates with your little saviour complexes are going to meet me at the palace. I’m going to give you one chance for those little pests inside you to survive, and then I will havemy power!”
Bile rose in my throat, sickness coiling in my stomach. “There is still a chance for you to surrender. To give up this plan. You know you won’t survive this. No one will. If you try to take my power, it will destroy all the realms.”
His eye twitched as he shook his head, the screen flipping to the moon. It was darker now, the shadow passing over it becoming thicker—redder. “You have five minutes to make the jump here, Ivy. Otherwise, I let everything burn. And I’ll start with your little half-demon agent. I sure as fuck have a few things I want to say to the bastard. Time’s ticking.”
The screen went dark, cutting us off from our only connection to Avalon—to Dante.
“Ivy—”
